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“Ah,” Lucien said before pausing. “Ahhh!” He repeated as if suddenly getting his meaning. “So, you’re marrying into the family business,” Lucien said to me with a hand on my shoulder and a pat on my stomach. “Good man! Good man.”
“And you two are related how?” Armand asked Lucien.
As Lucien explained, I looked up to see Dillon snake his way up to the event planner’s van and then past it into the street. I was sure that there would be security on the feeder road leading here. But they were there to prevent people from getting in, not out.
With Dillon now safe, I turned my attention to the other part of our plan. Lucien had to have caught Armand on the way in because under his arm was a leather satchel. It had to be where he kept the ledgers.
“Lucien, can I talk to you for a moment?” I asked interrupting their conversation. I turned to Armand. “It’s best man stuff.”
“Of course,” Armand said turning to the stairs. “It was a pleasure to meet you. We’ll talk more. Perhaps there are ways our two enterprises could work together.”
“Intriguing prospect,” Lucien said with a smile. “I’ll find you later,” he told Armand as he ascended the stairs. “That was interesting,” Lucien muttered when Armand was gone.
“You two seemed to get along,” I said unimpressed.
“I’ve had a lot of practice dealing with wolves like him. It’s not hard to figure out what types like his want to hear.”
“Well, you’re not gonna want to hear this. Not only has Armand’s men turned on something that’s blocking the radio signal of our bugs, but I’m pretty sure Eris saw me talking to Dillon.”
“Shit!”
“Shit is right.”
“What are we going to do?”
“Aren’t you the mastermind?” I asked sarcastically.
“Didn’t you hear? It’s in video games not complete shit shows like this.”
I chuckled feeling screwed. “Do we call it off?”
“Give up? What are you insane? This shit show hasn’t even begun.”
I laughed. “I just needed to hear you say it.”
“It is said. Now we dance.”
“What?”
Lucien shuffled his feet looking at me.
“Oh, tap dance!”
“Yes, this. We tap dance.”
I looked at him with a smile. “Then here goes nothing.”
“Here goes,” he told me before leaving me to greet a guest I had never met.
It didn’t take long for the open-layout living room to fill with people I didn’t know. It was a relief when I saw a few friendly faces. And before I could cross the room to talk to them, Cali had already started his second drink.
“Maybe you want to slow down there, Champ,” I said staring intensely at Cali.
“Don’t call me Champ,” he replied with a feistiness he had never had.
“Okay,” I said looking at Hil worried.
My brother shrugged apologetically.
